Winslet and Mendes arm in arm

Movie golden couple Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes have stepped out arm in
arm in public for the first time in the UK as they attended the premiere of his
latest film.

Although the pair had been spotted at awards bashes and
premieres in Los Angeles, Paris and New York the couple waited until now to
cement their relationship in the gaze of British fans.

And Mendes said his partner was more nervous about his
big night - as his second film The Road to Perdition
was screened - than he was.

He said: "I said what are you
worrying about, it's not your film. I think when it is her own film she feels
more in control.

"It is often more difficult to read bad things about other
people than it is about yourself," said the Oscar-winning director.

Winslet, 26, reassured her boyfriend with a kiss as they strode up the steps
to the Empire Cinema in London's Leicester Square.

The pair went public
about their relationship in December 2001, following her split from husband Jim
Threapleton. She recently said of her relationship with the American Beauty
director: "We are very happy, unbelievably happy."

The couple now have
homes in London and a country retreat in the Cotswolds thought to be worth more
than STG3 million ($A8.46 million).

However Winslet was not keen to discuss
any marriage prospects to the 37-year-old filmmaker as they attended the
premiere.

The couple said they had no firm
proposals to combine their talents in the theatre or on screen, but hoped to do
so.

Mendes said: "I would love to work with her but there is nothing
planned at the moment."

The film's American star Tom Hanks, who against
type for his films plays a villain, flew in for the screening.

He was
stunned by the crowd of more than 2,000 who had gathered to greet them: "It is
intimidating, I must say.

"You step out of the car and it is a wall of
sound from all those people. You don't ever get used to it."

He praised
Mendes' talents as a director: "His language of film is extraordinary."

The movie is based on a graphic novel set in depression-era Chicago and
centres on the story of a fearsome hit man, Michael Sullivan, played by Hanks.
His world is turned upside down when his son finds out about his occupation.